One-Grand Beginning"Timing is everything."Maybe, maybe not. There's no question that proper timing is essential to making an engine run, and there's no question that proper timing was a key factor when Dave Dinsmore acquired his '95 Ranger SuperCab. It seems that Dave had a friend in need... of some quick money. Good timing allowed him to pick up a clean truck for just $900. During the first two years, the truck was a daily-driven stocker. When year number three came along, the time was right to begin transforming the truck. "I built this truck with low costs in mind," Dave tells OFF-ROAD. "There are several things on this truck that work just as well as the high-dollar stuff, but cost much less." His overall investment in this truck has been relatively mild because labor is usually the single biggest cost when building a high-end truck. In this case, the owner, fabricator, and driver are all the same person. Dave just needed enough after-hours time to do the work. After putting together a string of after-hours fabrication sessions for about a year, Dave's Ranger has emerged as a TIG-welded chrome-moly creation capable of carrying its owner/builder/pilot and a few lucky copilots at high velocity across the unpredictable desert floor. The minimal dollars invested belie the topnotch fabrication that is the heart of a once-humble stocker. This one-grand wonder proves that sometimes, timing really is everything. The curvaceous, dimple-died rear shock mounts look great, but they score just as highly in the strength department. The cab was pierced outside of the rear window to keep the stock rear window glass intact. Crossbracing adds additional strength and rigidity to the chassis.The curvaceous, dimple-died rear shock mounts look great, but they score just as highly in We've seen plenty of well-constructed light bars, and this one is no exception. Dave's version goes a couple steps further by using rubber grommets between the cab roof and the tubing. This keeps the weather out and minimizes noise. A quick-disconnect plug makes for clean, reliable wiring.We've seen plenty of well-constructed light bars, and this one is no exception. Dave's ve The radius arm pivots are braced with a simple piece of tubing that spans the distance and doubles as a tranny crossmember. Check out the brake line routing. Hard line runs down the frame to a short section of flex line, then more hard line runs forward along the radius arms, and finally to another section of flex line connecting to the caliper. This routing takes more work than just running long flex lines directly between the frame and calipers, but it does a much better job of keeping the brake lines away from harm. The JD J-beams produce 20 inches of desert-ready suspension travel.The radius arm pivots are braced with a simple piece of tubing that spans the distance and The factory frame was sliced off aft of the cab and replaced with a pair of tubes. The slicing and subsequent tube placement netted an additional 5 inches of bump travel. To counter body roll, Dave used a sway bar from Speedway Engineering and built his own sway bar arms. "I asked for a double-wide splined section on the sway bar, and I built the arms using two inserts per side instead of one," he says.The factory frame was sliced off aft of the cab and replaced with a pair of tubes. The sl The radius arm pivots are braced with a simple piece of tubing that spans the distance and doubles as a tranny crossmember. Check out the brake line routing. Hard line runs down the frame to a short section of flex line, then more hard line runs forward along the radius arms, and finally to another section of flex line connecting to the caliper. This routing takes more work than just running long flex lines directly between the frame and calipers, but it does a much better job of keeping the brake lines away from harm. The JD J-beams produce 20 inches of desert-ready suspension travel.The radius arm pivots are braced with a simple piece of tubing that spans the distance and « | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | » | View Full Article Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!
